Emergency Shelters were recently inspected by Hon. Alexis Jeffers, Deputy Premier of Nevis and Minister responsible for Disaster Management, with (back row l-r) Marvin Hanley, Senior Building Inspector at the Department of Physical Planning; Mrs. Janette Meloney, Director of the Department of Community Development; Javier Ottley, Senior Environmental Health Officer in the Ministry of Health; Ms. Rhosyll Jeffers, Assistant Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture with responsibility for Disaster Management; and Jack Ngumbah, Senior Communications Officer at the Nevis Disaster Management Department.

CHARLESTOWN, Nevis — Hon. Alexis Jeffers, Deputy Premier of Nevis and Minister responsible for Disaster Management (NDMD), is urging the public to be attentive to media alerts and to be in a state of readiness as Tropical Storm Isaac approaches the chain of Caribbean Islands.

Jeffers encouraged the public on Sept. 10, as he toured emergency shelters designated by the Nevis Island Administration for the 2018 Atlantic Hurricane Season.

“The exercise this morning is just so that we are getting ourselves much more in a state of readiness even though we are taking it to another level to make sure that anything that happens we are prepared to the best of our abilities,” the minister said. “I want to ask the general public to continue to follow the various media houses that put out information from time to time. Of course you can check also the Nevis Disaster Management Department’s website [www.ndmd.kn] for additional information and social media would be used as much as possible to get information out.”

The minister was accompanied by a team comprising of officers from the Department of Physical Planning, NDMD, Department of Community Development, and the Ministry of Health. They visited a number of shelters as part of an ongoing exercise to ascertain whether there any deficiencies and to seek to take corrective measures if any are found.

Jeffers said he regarded the tour as an important undertaking, however, the list of shelters and shelter managers would be announced subsequently.

“This is an important venture because we are able to get some more information out to the public as to where the shelters are,” Jeffers said. “Of course a public announcement will be made in subsequent days as to where all of the shelters are and who the managers are. The disaster mitigation team I’m sure would be mobilised if needs be.”